Wife Muslim: K'ntka BJP leader calls minister "half Pakistani"

Bengaluru: Following a derogatory, racist comment made by a Karnataka BJP MLA against state Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, the latter's wife plans to bring the former before the court of law. The BJP MLA, Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, called the minister "half Pakistani", apparently because the minister's wife is from the Muslim community, The News Minute reported.

Yatnal, who was responding to questions about the involvement of a BJP leader in the Rameshwaram Café blast case, reacted to a statement by Minister Dinesh that Pakistan is in the minister's house and his house is half Pakistani.

Pakistan is in Dinesh Gundu Rao's house. His house is half-Pakistani," Yatnal said while speaking to the media outside the BJP office in Vijayapura.

A disturbed wife of the minister, Tabu Rao, responded to the BJP leader's racist remark on social media that it was "downright cheap, derogatory, and defamatory".

"I may be born a Muslim, but nobody can question my Indianness," she said.

She asked whether the Election Commission, BJP national president JP Nadda and the Prime Minister's office would take any action against Yatnal. She added that she is planning to file a complaint against Yatnal. Meanwhile, media reports suggested that Congress has already filed a complaint against the BJP leader with the Seshadripuram police.

The election Model Code of Conduct prohibits criticising any aspect of the private lives of politicians or workers from other parties which are not connected to their public lives. The Code also prohibits any actions that might aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred between different castes, religions, or linguistic communities, TNM reports.

Meanwhile, NIA, which is investigating the Rameshwaram Café blast, issued a press release, warning against revealing the identities of "witnesses" after reports suggested that a BJP worker has been arrested.